


I Hate Everyone Except for You... and Except for Her

by icedragon822



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25061914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icedragon822/pseuds/icedragon822
Summary: Mai and Zuko's journey to parenthood, told from Mai's perspective.
Relationships: Izumi & Mai (Avatar), Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 262





	I Hate Everyone Except for You... and Except for Her

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished ATLA this week and was blown away. Mai and Zuko were such an interesting couple- both of them had their issues but seemed to still love each other. I've started watching Legend of Korra and I know that Mai isn't confirmed as Izumi's mother, but they look so much alike (just like in my story, they have the same chin). I then saw this post of reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/g45zcd/mai_with_baby_izumi_by_kimmy_tsumani/) of Mai and Baby Izumi and the first comment said "I hate everyone. Except for her." and I thought it was just perfect for Mai, and I wanted to explore a little bit of that. This is just a sweet, fluffy fic from someone who's fairly new to the fandom. 
> 
> As for their ages, I'd say they're in their early/mid-20s. My headcanon is that Izumi was the first of the Gaang's kids to be born, followed a few years later by the first of Aang and Katara's children.

It had been a nightly routine for three years now. Mai would take the pouch of herbs that had been carefully prepared by the apothecary and let it steep in boiling water for five minutes, then she would smile and mutter a sardonic “No little firebenders for me tonight” before downing the whole cup in a few gulps. She stopped drinking the tea the week she got her period, and it all started over again once her period was finished. It was a wonderfully convenient little product, and Mai could’ve kissed whoever had invented it. 

Zuko had thought it was funny at first, especially the “No little firebenders” line. They’d started sleeping together the year before they got married, Zuko slipping past the guards and sneaking through her window at night. It was all fun; the last thing either of them needed was for a child to come along and ruin it all, especially before they were married. Her parents would be scandalized and absolutely mortified; it would be a smear on both her honor and Zuko’s. So Mai sought out a trusted, discreet apothecary, who prepared all of the teas for her and sent them to her at the beginning of every month.

But now that they were well into their second year of marriage, Zuko wasn’t amused anymore by her little jabs. She caught him grimacing a few times when he saw her preparing the tea. 

“You know you can’t do that forever,” Zuko said from the bed, setting aside the scroll that he was reading. “People are starting to talk about us. They want an heir.”

Mai gave a non-committal sniff. She’d heard the whispers around the palace, wondering why there wasn’t yet an heir to the throne. Mai scoffed at all the useless courtiers who had nothing better to do than gossip about her; she hated them all and couldn’t care less what they thought about her. She had half a mind to go up to them and say “There’s no heir because I like screwing my husband and I’d rather not get fat and used up like you quite yet, thank you very much.” But even though their words didn’t bother HER, she could tell they were starting to get to Zuko. And she knew that there were political reasons that he was worried, too; even though Azula was much improved with the treatment she’d received, and even could be pleasant and kind at times, he still wanted someone between her and the throne. Mai knew she’d have to have a child eventually- it came with the territory of marrying the Fire Lord. But that didn’t mean she didn’t want to wait as long as she possibly could before she actually had to do it. 

“THEY want an heir, do they? Well, THEY can kiss my ass. Unless they’re the one who has to grow the heir and birth the heir and raise the heir, they don’t have any say in what I do.”

“They’re not the only ones who want it, though,” Zuko said. There was a strange plaintive note in his voice that Mai didn’t recognize. She set the boiling cup down and sat beside him on the bed.

“They’re not?”

“No,” he said. “I want it. And I don’t see it as just an heir, either. I want a baby. There has been so much bad in this family, so much bad in this world. I want to bring someone into the family who’s good. Babies are born good. Even Azula wasn’t born bad- she was made bad, by my father and grandfather. But our baby, our baby would be good. I’d make sure of it.”

Mai felt a strange pang in her heart, one that she hadn’t felt before. She didn’t know what it meant. She gave Zuko’s hand a squeeze. 

“Fine,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant even though her heart was pounding. She got up from the bed, grabbed the cup of tea, and tossed it in a houseplant. “Let’s have a baby, then.”

Zuko’s jaw dropped. “Just like that? You’re not going to fight me over it?”

“It would have happened anyway. Why does it matter if it’s now or five years from now?”

Zuko blinked rapidly a few times. 

“But let’s get one thing straight: this is the only one. I don’t want to hear anything about ‘But the heir needs a spare’ or ‘we need a girl’ if it’s a boy or ‘we need a boy’ if it’s a girl. This is it. I’m giving up 9 months of my life and probably my perfect body.” She looked down at herself, already mourning the slim hips and perky breasts that, if her mother was any indication, would disappear the second the child took hold in her. “So I have the final say on the matter. Ok?”

Zuko let out a sigh. “Ok.” 

“Good.” A sly smile stretched across her face. “Now, how about we get a little head start on this baby-making business?”

Zuko smiled back at her. “I thought you’d never ask.”

** 

They’d been trying for 10 months, and there was still no baby. 

Mai hadn’t worried at all for the first two months. After all, she’d just come off the tea. Her body was probably just getting used to being back on its natural cycle. But when five, six, seven months passed and her period returned each and every month, she began to get a sinking feeling in her stomach. Every time she saw the blood on her underwear, it was like a punch to the gut. 

They had tried everything. She tracked her cycle and figured out when the best time to conceive would be. She and Zuko went at it like rabbits, whenever and wherever they could. It was fun at first, but it soon became clinical and repetitive, almost like a chore. She had the apothecary make her new tea, one that was said to increase fertility. There was no one she could talk to about it; Aang and Katara were married, too, but they were too busy saving the world, building Republic City, and, in Katara’s case, training to be a healer, to even think about starting a family right now. With a lack of friends who would understand her pain, she sucked up her pride and mortification and had a conversation with her mother about it, confiding her worries. Her mother had held her hand the whole time, and when Mai finished talking she shared that she’d had the same trouble- it must be genetic. It had taken three years to conceive Mai, and twelve after that to conceive Tom-Tom. TWELVE years? Mai felt the pang in her heart again. She didn’t feel many emotions, she never had. She’d learned to blunt them, to mask anything she felt with apathy. But she was working on it, working on letting herself feel what her body and soul wanted her to feel. And she had come to recognize that pang as feeling: excitement, nervousness. And, in this case, devastation. 

But then one morning she woke up with all the classic symptoms that she was going to get her period- crankiness, fatigue, incredibly sore breasts. But it never came. A week passed, and then another. And then the sickness started. She woke up nauseated and went to bed nauseated. She couldn’t keep anything down except bone broth. Even after all this, she refused to believe that it could be real, that it actually could have worked. 

It was finally when Zuko insisted that she see the court physician that she accepted that it may be true. And then when the words came out of the physician’s mouth, the words she’d waited for so long to hear- “Congratulations, Lady Mai, it appears that you’re with child”- she recognized a new feeling that came with the pang in her heart: complete and utter joy. 

**

“So how are you feeling?” Katara asked, gently swirling some of the water from the court pond between her hands. Aang was visiting the Fire Nation on official business, and Katara had come along to see Zuko and Mai. 

“I’m actually feeling really well,” Mai said, resting her hand on the bump that rose from under her robes. “I was sick at first, but as soon as the second trimester came along, all the nausea disappeared. My skin is perfect, my hair is the best it's ever been, my nails are amazing, and I get to eat whatever I want and as much as I want. It's great.”

“And how are you feeling mentally?”

“Better than I thought I would,” Mai admitted. “I’d been dreading the pregnancy part, really. I thought I would hate it.”

“You hate everything,” Katara said with a laugh. 

Mai smiled. “Everything except this, I guess. It’s been really fascinating, to see how my body changes every day. And when I felt the baby for the first time…” her throat clogged with emotion, another strange new side effect of the pregnancy. Her stomach had been feeling funny for a few weeks, strangely fluttery. She didn't know what it was. But one night she bent over to pick up a scroll that had fallen on the floor, and she felt it distinctly- a tiny but noticeable kick. She placed her hand to her stomach in shock, and then felt the tears streaming down her face. It was REAL. There was actually a baby inside her, trying to make its presence known. When the baby got big enough that Zuko could feel the kicks too, she was even more shocked to see her normally stoic husband break into tears of joy. 

“It’s just hard to believe that this is really happening. I can’t believe that I only have three months to go. I don’t feel ready.”

Katara, who as a healer was also trained as a midwife, gave Mai a warm smile. “I don’t think anyone is ever ready to become a parent. But I have a feeling that you and Zuko will be the best parents this baby could ask for. Do you have a feeling of what the sex will be?”

Mai nodded. “Zuko’s convinced that it’s a boy. But it’s a girl, I know it. I’ve known from even before I knew I was pregnant, I think.”

“Really?”

“Mmmhm.” Mai tore off a small piece of bread and threw it for some of the turtle ducklings to eat. “I had a dream. I saw a little girl sitting here by the pond, feeding the turtle ducks. And I knew then, I knew we’d be having a girl.” She sighed. “It would be easier if it’s a boy though. We have a boy’s name picked out already.”

“What is it?”

“Iroh,” she said. “We told Uncle and he was thrilled, of course. But we can’t agree on a girl’s name.” She smiled. “Kiyi said that we could name the baby after her if it’s a girl, but Zuko said that one Kiyi is more than enough. Zuko’s mother said the same thing about her name, so Ursa’s off the table, too. We’ve been going back and forth for weeks and can’t come to an agreement. He’s more firm on the matter than I am.”

“What is it with boys and naming their children?” Katara said with a laugh. “Aang says if we have a boy we’re naming him Bumi. I told him the same thing you all told Kiyi- one Bumi is more than enough- but he’s insistent. I’m less picky than he is, so Bumi it is.” She shrugged. “We’re going to go with Kya if we have a girl, though. Like my mom. But we’ve got a long, long, LONG time before we get there. We’ll just have to enjoy your parenting adventures from afar.”

Mai sighed. “Ready or not, here we come.”

**

Mai let out a guttural scream. She had never been in so much pain in her life. The pressure had been intense for hours. She didn’t know how long she had been laboring… minutes, hours, days, it all just ran together at this point. All she knew was that she had to get the baby out, and she had to get the baby out NOW. 

“I can’t… I can’t…” she panted. 

“You CAN,” Zuko said, bringing her hand to his mouth to give it a reassuring kiss before letting her give his hand another hard squeeze. She wasn’t sure how she had managed not to break his hand already. He had broken centuries of royal protocol to join Mai as she gave birth; no Fire Lord had done it before him. But he was insistent; he was going to be there as his child, as the next Fire Lord, entered the world. 

“I can see the baby’s head, Lady Mai,” the physician called out from between her legs. “Give me another good push.”

Mai pushed as hard as she could, letting out another scream. It felt like she was being torn open. 

“Good, good, keep going… here are the shoulders…” 

And all of a sudden, Mai’s world stopped. Because with one last, strong, impossible push, the baby was there. HER baby was there. Wrinkled, covered in a cheese-like substance and flecks of blood, face contorted in a grimace… but Mai had never seen anything more beautiful or more perfect. 

A shrill cry pierced the air, and Mai felt herself let out a sob. She turned to look at Zuko, who had his own tears streaming down his face. He kissed her hand again, then rested it against his cheek, where she felt the wetness of his tears. “You did so well,” his whispered.

“A girl,” the physician called. “A healthy baby girl.”

“A girl,” Zuko said, his voice filled with wonder. “I have a little girl. WE have a little girl.”

“I knew it,” Mai cried, barely noticing as someone opened the top of her robe. “It was her all along. I knew it was her.” 

Someone placed the baby on Mai’s chest, and she let out another sob. This had to be the best feeling in the world- the solid weight of her baby in her arms, skin to skin against her chest. She didn’t care that the baby was covered in blood and any other matter of things- she put her hand on her daughter’s back and reached down to place gentle kisses against her head. The baby continued to cry, and Mai whispered comforting words into the soft skin of her scalp.

“You’re ok,” she said. “Mama’s here. Mama’s here and I love you, and I’ll always love you.” She had only told one other person she loved them before- Zuko. And that took months, years even. It was hard to imagine that she could love someone so fiercely, so immediately. She looked over at Zuko, who was still crying. He was crouched beside his wife and daughter, and the baby had grasped on to his index finger, which looked gigantic in the baby’s tiny hand. He stroked her hand with his thumb, and Mai caught a few snatches a words in between his sobs: “Beautiful” “Perfect” “Love you” “I’ll be good to you.” Her heart panged again, the same pang she’d felt when she learned she was pregnant: the purest, most indescribable form of joy. 

Hours later, Mai and Zuko were finally alone. She’d been removed from the birthing chambers and was safe, secure, and comfortable in her own bed. The baby had been given a clean bill of health (she weighed over 9 pounds, which explained why it was so painful!), and was washed off and wrapped in a soft Fire Nation robe, the same robe that Zuko, Azula, and all of their forebears had also been wrapped in. It was Fire Nation custom that children be raised by a nanny and wet nurse, but Mai was again breaking tradition. She insisted that the baby would sleep in their room in a bassinet an arm’s reach from her side of the bed until she was able to sleep through the night (when she would be moved to her own room), and she was sure she would scandalize the court when they found out that she planned on nursing the baby herself. But Mai was never one to be traditional, and her baby would be HERS, not raised by someone else.

Mai held her daughter in her arms, still in a daze. She was the most exhausted she’d ever been in her life, but she didn’t want to go to sleep. She didn’t want to miss anything, and she couldn’t stop staring at her daughter in wonder. Now that the baby was clean, they were able to get a better look at her. She looked a little like Tom-Tom as a baby- she had a soft tuft of dark hair on her head, and cheeks so chubby that they almost drooped. Zuko laughed and pointed out that she was so chunky that she had about five chins, but it was obvious that her REAL chin was exactly like Mai’s. When she opened her eyes, Mai gasped- they were the exact same amber shade as Zuko’s. 

Mai ran her finger gently down the baby’s cheek, trying not to wake her. “Do you think she’ll be a firebender?” So far the baby hadn’t shown any signs of bending abilities.

“I don’t know,” Zuko said. “It runs strong in our family, but there’ve been non-benders, too.”

“Would it upset you if she’s not?”

“No,” Zuko said adamantly, and from his tone Mai could tell that he meant it, REALLY meant it. “She’s absolutely perfect just the way she is, bending or not.”

“She still needs a name, you know,” Mai said playfully. She knew that Zuko had been scouring the historical scrolls for weeks, trying to find a name that might fit. 

“Izumi,” he said softly. 

“What was that?”

“Izumi. I found it in one of the scrolls.”

“Was it the name of your five-times great-grandmother or something?”

“No,” he said. “Izumi was a servant girl here at the palace, but she was also one of the most powerful firebenders of all time. When she was just a teenager, with almost no training, she saved the Fire Lord from an assassination attempt. He was so impressed with her bravery that he had some of the greatest masters train her. And she was better than all of them. She became a great general, one of the best in our history. She spent her whole life protecting and serving the nation. I think she’s a worthy person to name our daughter after. And I hope we raise our daughter to be a person worthy to bear the name.”

“I love it,” Mai said. 

“You love it?” Zuko let out a short laugh. “I thought you hated everything.”

Mai looked back down at her daughter- at Izumi. She reached into the robe and grabbed a tiny foot, and marveled at the tiny toenails (how on Earth was she supposed to cut them without hurting her?), the delicate lines on the soles, the way her toes curled and uncurled as she slept. She smiled as Izumi let out a few tiny squeaks and grunts in her sleep- no one had ever told her that baby noises were the cutest sounds known to mankind. 

She looked back up at Zuko. “I do hate everything. And almost everyone. Everything and everyone except for you. And except for her.”

She smiled as Zuko bent down to kiss her, and then bent down further to place a kiss on Izumi’s head. They both laughed as she grimaced in her sleep and let out an annoyed grunt. She was clearly her parents’ daughter. 

“Welcome to the world, Izumi,” Zuko whispered. “You have a wonderful life ahead of you. And your mom and dad will be there for you all the way.”


End file.
